Permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) has a growing adoption in consumer and industrial motor applications due to its high reliability and small size compared to other motors. To achieve high efficiency and low vibration and acoustic noise, field oriented control (FOC) is increasingly being used in PMSM control for fans, pumps, compressors, geared motors, etc. To further increase energy efficiency at a lowest cost, more and more new functions (e.g., digital power conversion, digital power factor correction (PFC), multiple PMSM control in air-con) need to be handled by one single microcontroller. But existing FOC control strategies are complicated and processor-intensive, thereby impeding additional microcontroller power from being allocated to those complex new system functions.
For PMSM with highly dynamic loading (e.g., motors for electric propulsion, compressors), a fast and accurate control loop is needed to control motor currents and voltages to consistently maintain maximum efficiency. But existing FOC has complex transformations in the critical control loop, making it inaccurate and relative slow.
New microcontrollers include more and more features and peripherals (e.g., human machine interface (HMI), communications) in order to excel in the intensely fierce competition. However, existing FOC control strategies tend to overburden the microcontrollers, hindering the full use of their potential and features in complex applications with FOC motor controls.